So I’m 24F, when I was about 8yo I joined a professional Russian ballet school. When I had my first entrance examination, they said that I had no physical attributes for being a ballerina and I could never perform in the BIG theatre (if you know what I mean). However, they took me in anyway just to see what I can do and I felt like I had to excel my classmates, so I worked hard, I worked hard af, I’ve never worked harder in my life. Our teacher was a renowned Russian ballerina, so ofc she was very strict and demanding. A year passed and then she says out of nowhere to a beautiful tall (very ballerina figured) girl “I can’t believe this, this girl (me) has no physical ballet attributes but she dances better than you” and that’s when I knew it aaaaall payed off. So I started working even harder, every little comment from the teacher, I took in. And no it’s not narcissism (oh well maybe a little), I was just always shit at everything I did, school, family and friends. And this gave me just an enormous boost of confidence so I got even better, I didn’t stop working, I’d practice non stop. It was before the main school and after (sometimes but rarely during school). I started performing at little theaters in Russia and it was exhilarating. Naturally I’m such a shy person but THIS and BALLET just gave me so much confidence like nothing else, I felt the most confident at age 10, it just was so amazing, I can’t put it into words.

And then….well, the tragedy, I had to choose to go to middle school into this ballet school or stay at my school with my old classmates and well my brother.. and guess what…my mother chose for me, she wanted me to stay with my brother in regular school and take ballet as a hobby. And omg well this is a Russian mum, you just can’t say no and even if you did, you’d be ignored.

So I started ballet dance at this new place and ofc it wasn’t professional, it was for ppl who wanted to do ballet as a hobby…And then I just lost interest because it wasn’t competitive and I had to have it that way..

Two years passed and I quit ballet, I started playing tennis just as a hobby.

Ngl at the time I took that loss as smth normal and that just happens, I don’t decide anything, my mum does. (And ofc I quit tennis about 2 years later coz I didn’t care for it)

The most ironic thing happened actually quite recently, it’s not ironic actually….its quite depressing.. Well my mother told me 5 days ago, that this big ballet producer or director told her about 12 -15 years ago (when I was still in ballet) “if I trained till I was in my teens I’d be as great as Maria Plisetskaya” and it actually broke me.. I’m having such existential crisis, I could be so great but my mother ruined it back when I didn’t even realize that I could be great and I’m not the one to take past loses that easy…just feel so shit coz now I’m lost as a person

And this shit makes me want to be the greatest ballerina ever even if I’ll be the oldest ballerina at 24 but at the same time i already went through alcohol addiction and just existential nowhere…HOW COULD I even be a ballerina??

Im sorry for a rant and im sure people had worse stories than this but i just had to share this.

I’ve always just worn a leo, tights and a wrap skirt to class. After class do you guys cover up with jackets or t-shirts? Pants?

I’m planning to watch the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker at the end of the year and need help with choosing between seats.

I’m in a dilemma because while the balcony seats are a little closer to the stage distance-wise, they also have a restricted view. (Though on the website, it doesn’t really look like there’s anything physically blocking the view of the stage)

The amphitheatre seats are not marked as having a restricted view, but it is a little less central and also higher up.

Please help an indecisive girl out 🥀 Thank you in advance!!

Edit: SOLVED! Thank you cellardoor000!

I've been in ballet recreationally off and on throughout my life. A couple of years ago, I decided to go again throughout the course of spring. Ended up buying an entire new set of dancewear. When I was shopping for a leotard, I found this great site that had a wide variety of options—pages worth. Multiple styles and colors, mostly all displayed on mannequins, the pricepoint was fairly mid/high, around the $50-$80 range iirc.

Ended up not buying from there because of the price.

Thinking about taking up classes again for the school year, and I cannot find this site again for the life of me. It was a fairly simplistic site layout, carried all the dance supplies one would need, and I really enjoyed the variety, including the mannequin models. Made things a lot more simple being able to see the different styles without any size and model body variations.

I'm thinking the site must have been changed since a couple years ago, because I spent an hour searching and I just can't find it again. Does anybody remember which dancewear site was primarily using mannequin models and had a wide variety of fabrics and patterns on various different leo styles?

I think it even had initial branding on some of their products as well, iirc. It had a sort of pseudo "handmade" vibe about it.

I'm an advanced level 21 year old student (en pointe for the last 8 months) looking for performance opportunities for adults, which I'm discovering are shockingly hard to find!

I danced for 6 years in my childhood, performing each of those years, and only had to stop because my single mom couldn't afford my studio's fees and the 30 minute drive to and from. I started consistently dancing again 2 years ago at age 19, and I'm so happy with the progress I've made thus far!

My biggest goal is to finally be in the Nutcracker, as well as any other productions that would take me. But, most companies/theaters in my area (San Diego CA) only let people under 18 perform, and the only one that I've found with open adult auditions is charging a $180 audition/commitment fee with no guarantee of casting (too much for me as a full time working student already on food stamps!)

Do you folks have any advice for finding adult performance opportunities, or perhaps even places in my area that cater to adult dancers? I've spent most of my childhood/adolescence on stage, whether dancing or in drama/theatre groups, and I miss so much being able to work towards a production together with my fellow dancers!

I’m a guy, but I have a desire to learn the female dances

I’m nervous that my instructor will judge, despite her being very kind and supportive. And my GF will think I’m weird.

Any tips?

Tonight is my first ever ballet class and it is adult recreational for beginners. I already bought a black leo, pink tights, a wrap around skirt, and ballet shoes LOL. I got excited. But I'm seeing on here that very few adult beginners wear them and that we should just wear leggings. I don't want to stand out because I don't like attention. Will I look goofy!?

Edit: Thanks everyone!! I have bad anxiety so I've been overthinking this. I'm going with the leotard and tights and live my childhood dream 😆❤️

went amazing! i was the only person who turned up and i basically got a private class. the teacher complimented my turnout (i was shocked) and we got to do some pirouettes which was so exciting for me (i love spinning)

i struggled a little bit with my arm positions but my feet and legs were good!

i’m now travelling to another class at another studio just down the road but i havent been to this one yet. i hope its just as positive 🫶

if you’re still contemplating starting classes, i promise its so worth it once you just jump in. ❤️

Just thought I’d share my experience here and see if anyone can relate! I decided that I really wanted to get back into ballet this year and joined an adult rec class. I did ballet from age 10-18ish very recreationally and always enjoyed it. However, my teacher retired and life got busy and I focused on other dance styles in my adult years.

This class said it only required 3 years of dance experience. I thought I’d be fine, especially as I have been dancing all these years, even if I haven’t done ballet specifically in a while. Wow, it really kicked my butt! There are apparently a lot of ballet-specific muscles that are very weak in my body now! The teacher also moved so quickly through different combos and it was hard to keep up. Luckily, I think many others in the class were feeling the same way, so hopefully we’ll repeat some or all of those combos next time. I found that my arms had a lot of muscle memory, but my feet were a different story! There was also definitely some interference from my current main dance style due to some differences in technique, so I’ll have to get used to the ballet way again!

Has anyone had this experience? How quickly did you feel that you got back into the groove? Any tips for injury prevention as a 30+ dancer?

When jumping up to do a Sissone ferme from plie in 5th, are you pushing off both feet/legs 50/50, ie with equal force? OR do you push off more with the 1st landing leg / leading leg?

My teacher says 50/50. But what I find is, if I have to push off slightly towards the direction I'm going, then my weight is going to be more than 50% over that leading leg. And I end up pushing off more on that leg. More like 80/20.

I've watched 7 YouTube videos about this. Only 1 says push off with more force on the leading leg. Another says push off both equally. The rest says to push off both feet but doesn't specify further.

3rd year adult beginner here feeling a bit confused. Advice appreciated!

Im inbetween transitioning from hs to uni (aiming for somewhere between york or sheffields) and I dropped ballet like 3 years ago. I was around RAD intermediate and did a bit of transitional work for inter - adv found. I was hoping to pick it up when I go into uni as a hobby, nothing serious but also I am only picking it up again cuz I miss the grit of it. Any suggestions? I feel like alot of adult classes cover somewhere between the basics and the advanced stuff but what if I dont want the basics nor do I want pro level ballet?

i am an adult absolute beginner with large and quite wide feet. my best fitting street shoe would be a (women's) 10.5w or even an extra-wide if the style of shoe has more of a narrow toe box.

my first in-person class starts in 10 days (eep!) but i've been doing ballet misfit youtube lessons for about 6 weeks now. i have tried and returned so many shoes in the last few weeks and have yet to find a good match. i've also scoured reddit for help and have tried all of the options i could find in previous posts. i know i should probably go in-person to a store but, to be completely honest, i'm a bit nervous about that as an absolute beginner and i always feel pressure trying things on in front of store employees.

if anyone has any leads on anything wider/with a wide toe box i'd be SO grateful! i'm really open to trying anything.

here's what i've tried so far:

currently using: bloch performa 8.5d (these are passable but still squeeze my toes a fair amount and i haven't been able to stretch them enough after 5 weeks to allow my toes to really spread. also i really should be a 9d in these shoes, but the women's sizes stop at 8.5)

tried:

so danca sd16 (even the ee version, and i had to order my size from a walmart reseller bc 9.5ee seems to be permanently out of stock)

so danca ba26 (men's with a very high vamp, and they just did not fit right in 4 different sizes and widths)

so danca sd122

i also have bloch women's pro elastic 8.5w on the way, but haven't tried these yet

as a last ditch effort i'm contemplating trying:

bloch men's synchrony in 9d, bloch men's perfectus in 8.5d, bloch men's performa in 9d. i still don't fully understand the difference between synchrony and performa, but am just trying everything. if anyone has feedback on any of these shoes i'd be so grateful as it seems i can only get all 3 from bloch directly and they have a fee for returns.

i know this is a lot of info, so thank you so much in advance for taking a look! i'm open to any suggestions that anyone may have! i don't have a traditional ballet body at all (or feet clearly lol), but i'm really excited about starting this journey and am hopeful that i'll find something that doesn't make my feet hurt. :) thank you!!!

What do you think about this year 7th grade at Vaganova? I think that there are some students that could be at top graduates like Furman, Sukhanova and Aziz. Personaly I like Sukhanova and Furman more because of their technique and both of them have long ballet legs. I don't know why Tsiskadzize favours Aziz more, she is very short but technicaly strong.

So it’s been a couple years since I’ve taken a ballet class. I had been in 2 pre-professional companies previously, then had a gnarly ankle injury. And then another one.

I finally got brave enough to go back to class after a couple years of physical therapy and strengthening. It’s an adult beginner, and (not to sound like a total ass) but it’s much below the skill level I’m used to.

That said, I’m having a pickle of a time adjusting to the (significant) extra weight I have on me after having a baby. I can’t develope my leg high anymore. Like, it gets shaky at 90°. I can’t even find my balance in center (though part of me wonders if my old ballet shoes should be 86’ed because after a long period of physio for my ankles, they don’t feel quite right)

Do you have any advice to adjusting finding your balance after having such huge changes in your body?

TL;DR: I was pre pro but am kind of starting over after injury and pregnancy. How do I go about re-discovering my center of balance?